JP2011013785A - Moving image retrieval server - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a server and method for promoting the use of moving image data having place name information by facilitating search of moving image data having the place name information provided on the Internet.SOLUTION: A moving image collection part 11 collects moving image data having the place name information on a network 40, and stores it in a storage part 16. Then, an index adding part 12 adds an index by using regional location information included in the place name information as a key, to the collected moving image data, and stores the moving image. Then, when receiving a retrieval request associated with the place name information from a terminal 30, moving image data is retrieved based on the retrieval request and the index information, and the retrieval result is transmitted to the terminal 30.

Description

  The present invention relates to a moving image search server. In particular, the present invention relates to a moving image search server used for searching for moving image data having meta information including place name information.

  Conventionally, various format files are provided on the Internet so that they can be freely browsed and made available to the public. In particular, in recent years, with the enhancement of facilities, it has become possible to provide moving image data from the provision of simple text data and image data such as still images, and various businesses have been born that mainly provide moving image data.

  On the other hand, in order to view the viewable video data provided on the Internet, the user needs to search for target data. However, it is difficult to determine the semantic content by analyzing normal image data or moving image data itself, and it is not an object to be indexed by the crawler. Therefore, an invention has been disclosed in which information relating to the movement of a person detected by a sensor is automatically added as meta information during video data shooting, and information included in the meta information can be searched (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-121264 A

  In Patent Document 1, it is possible to automatically add meta information to video data and use it for a search. However, since the information detected by the sensor is automatically written in the meta information, all the contents detected by the sensor are recorded. Is a search key, there is a problem that the amount of information is too large to be suitable for search. Furthermore, if there is information shown in only a part of one video data, it usually rarely appears in the file name etc. Even if it can be searched with reference to meta information, It is difficult to know where the information is located.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a server and a method that facilitates searching for moving image data provided on the Internet and facilitates the use of the moving image data.

  (1) A video search server that accepts a search related to video data via the Internet and transmits a search result, and is published on the Internet and includes location name information related to the content of the video data and playback position information associated with the location name information Moving image collection means for collecting moving image data including meta information, moving image data storage means for storing the collected moving image data together with the meta information, and the place name information, the local position information corresponding to the place name information An index assigning unit that assigns index information based on the regional position information, a search accepting unit that accepts a search request from a terminal, and the search request and the index information. Search means for searching for the moving picture data stored in the moving picture data storage means, Video search server having a search result the searching means searches, a search result transmitting means for transmitting to the terminal that has received the search request, the.

According to the invention according to (1), the moving image data collected on the Internet and having place name information is stored together with the meta information, and index information is given based on the regional position information corresponding to the place name information. When a search request related to the place name information is received from the terminal, the video data is searched based on the search request and the index information, and the search result is transmitted to the terminal.
Thereby, video data can be searched based on place name information.

  (2) The moving image search server according to (1), wherein the search unit searches for the reproduction position information associated with the area position information corresponding to the place name information included in the search request.

According to the invention according to (2), in addition to the invention according to (1), the reproduction position information associated with the area position information corresponding to the place name information included in the search request is searched.
Thereby, when the terminal transmits a search request including the place name information, the search means searches for the reproduction position information of the video data related to the place name information, and the search result sending means sends the search result to the terminal. Can do. Therefore, it is possible to search for moving image data in which the content related to the place name information included in the search request is included only in a part of the moving image data. Data can be played back.

  (3) A moving image search method for receiving a search related to moving image data through the Internet and transmitting a search result, comprising moving image data storage means for storing the moving image data, and being disclosed to the Internet and related to the content of the moving image data Collecting moving image data including meta information including place name information and reproduction position information associated with the place name information, the place name information includes area position information corresponding to the place name information, and collecting the collected moving image data Storing in the moving image data storage means together with the meta information, adding index information based on the regional position information for the collected and stored moving image data, receiving a search request from a terminal, the search request, and Based on the index information, stored in the moving image data storage means Retrieving image data, the retrieved search results, the method comprising the step, to be transmitted to the terminal that has received the search request.

  According to the invention which concerns on (3), there can exist an effect similar to (1).

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the server and method which make it easy to search the moving image data which has the place name information provided on the internet, and can promote utilization of the moving image data which has the place name information can be provided.

1 is a diagram illustrating an overall overview of a system and a functional configuration of a moving image search server according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the moving image data table which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the memory structure of the moving image data which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the index information table which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the camera and terminal which concern on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the index provision process which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the search process which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the search result which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of the moving image search server which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall outline of a system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The system 1 includes a video search server 10 and a terminal 30 that makes a search request to the video search server 10 via the network 40. The terminal 30 is connected to a camera 20 that captures moving image data as necessary.

  The video search server 10 crawls video data from other servers 50 a, 50 b... Connected to the network 40, indexes them, and registers them in a search engine provided by the video search server 10.

  The terminal 30 transmits a video data search request to the video search server 10 and receives a search result from the video search server 10. On the other hand, it is also possible to connect the camera 20, store the moving image data taken by the camera 20, register it on the other servers 50 a, 50 b.

  The camera 20 captures moving image data. The moving image data includes place name information. This place name information includes at least position information acquired from the GPS satellite 60 in the present embodiment. The position information is information associated with a region, and indicates the region position information. Further, when the camera 20 has map information, the local position information and the map information may be collated to include the place name information of the local position information. The camera 20 receives GPS signals as local position information at predetermined intervals from the GPS satellite 60 during shooting of moving image data, and stores the time points when the signals in the moving image data being shot are received in association with each other. The point in time when the regional position information is acquired becomes the reproduction position information. These pieces of information are embedded as meta information in the captured moving image data.

  The network 40 is an open wide area network such as the so-called Internet.

<Video search server>
A functional configuration of the moving image search server 10 will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 2 shows a moving image data table. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing a storage structure of moving image data. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an index information table.

  The moving image search server 10 includes a moving image collection unit 11, an index assignment unit 12, a search reception unit 13, a search unit 14, a search result transmission unit 15, and a storage unit 16. The storage unit 16 includes a moving image data DB 161 and a search index DB 162.

  The moving image collection unit 11 circulates the network 40 as moving image collection means, and collects the released moving image data. Specifically, the websites established by the servers 50a, 50b,... Are visited, and the released moving image data is collected, registered in the moving image data DB 161, and searchable. The moving image collection unit 11 can use, for example, a known search robot engine.

  The moving image data collected by the moving image collecting unit 11 is stored as a database in the moving image data DB 161 of the storage unit 16. For example, the table is managed as shown in FIG.

  The moving image data table will be described with reference to FIG. The moving image data table is a table stored in the moving image data DB 161 of the storage unit 16. The moving image data table includes at least a “file name” field, a “playback position” field, and a “regional position information” field, which are associated with each other.

  In the “file name” column, file names of moving image data collected by the moving image collection unit 11 are stored.

  In the “playback position” column, playback position information included in the moving image data is stored. This reproduction position information is information included in the meta information given to the moving image data photographed by the camera 20, and is stored in association with the regional position information. In the present embodiment, the reproduction position information indicates a reproducible position of the moving image data, and is indicated by an arbitrary time in the entire reproduction time of the moving image data. When the terminal 30 reproduces the image data, it indicates a position where reproduction is possible from the time specified by the reproduction position information.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when the shooting start time of the moving image data is “0:00”, the local position information (X1, Y1) is given at the time “3:05” from the start of shooting. This means that the image at the position of the local position information (X1, Y1) has been taken from 3 minutes 5 seconds from the start of photography. Further, the local position information of (X2, Y2) is given at the time of “6:47”. This indicates that the image of the regional position information (X2, Y2) has been taken from the time point of 6 minutes 47 seconds from the start of photography. Therefore, it can be seen that the image of the regional position information (X1, Y1) is taken from 3 minutes 05 seconds to 6 minutes 47 seconds. Information (3:05 or 6:47) indicating these times indicates a reproducible position (that is, a reproduction position), and when the moving image data of the file A is reproduced, the position of (X1, Y1) is When a moving image is reproduced, it is possible to reproduce from that position by designating a reproduction position of “3:05”.

  Returning to FIG. 2, the “regional location information” column stores the regional location information stored in the meta information given to the moving image data. This regional position information is calculated based on a GPS signal acquired when moving image data is captured by the camera 20, and is stored in meta information given to the moving image data.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the index assigning unit 12 performs indexing. Specifically, index information is assigned to the moving image data collected by the moving image collection unit 11 and stored in the moving image data DB 161 and stored in the search index DB 162. This index information is information used when the search unit 14 described later performs a search process.

  Here, the index information table stored in the search index DB 162 will be described with reference to FIG. The index information table is a table in which the result of indexing by the index assigning unit 12 is stored, and includes at least a “regional position information” column and a “moving image information” column.

  The “regional location information” column stores the regional location information included in the meta information of the video data collected by the video collection unit 11. Then, the information of the moving image file having the respective regional position information is stored in the “moving image information” column.

  In the present embodiment, the information on the moving image file stored in the “moving image information” column is stored by combining the file name of the moving image data and the reproduction position information associated with the regional position information in the moving image data. . For example, according to FIG. 4, A (3:05) and E (6:21) are stored in the “moving image information” column in the row where (X1, Y1) is stored in the “regional location information” column. ing. A and E indicate the file name of the moving image data, and (3:05) and (6:21) indicate the reproduction position of each moving image file. That is, the file A indicates that information (image data) photographed with the local position information (X1, Y1) from the position of 3:05 in the file is recorded.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the search receiving unit 13 receives a search request transmitted from the terminal 30 to the moving image search server 10 via the network 40. This search request includes place name information. When receiving the search request, the search receiving unit 13 outputs the received search request to the search unit 14. Then, the search unit 14 refers to the search index DB 162 to search for the corresponding regional position information from the place name information included in the search request, reads the corresponding moving image data from the moving image data DB 161, and outputs it to the search result transmitting unit 15. . At this time, the search unit 14 searches for information such as a place name and a surrounding map indicated by the region position information, in contrast to the map information stored in the predetermined region of the storage unit 16 based on the searched region position information. It may be.

  The search result transmission unit 15 transmits the search result searched by the search unit 14 to the terminal 30 from which the search reception unit 13 has received the search request.

  The storage unit 16 stores various programs for processing performed by the moving image search server 10 and data. In addition, the predetermined area of the storage unit 16 is provided with the areas of the moving image data DB 161 and the search index DB 162, but these databases may be arranged in another server. In addition, the databases are not limited to this. For example, there are databases that store map information, databases that store usage IDs and the like when registration is required to use the service provided by the video search server 10, and the like. Good.

<Camera and terminal>
The functional configurations of the camera 20 and the terminal 30 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating functional configurations of the camera 20 and the terminal 30.

  The camera 20 includes a photographing unit 21 that captures moving image data, a regional position information adding unit 22 that adds regional position information to the captured moving image data, an external connection unit 23 that connects to the terminal 30 and the like, and a storage unit 24.

  The photographing unit 21 mainly photographs moving image data. It may be a photographing means in a so-called known video camera or a camera capable of photographing moving image data.

  The regional position information adding unit 22 receives a GPS signal from the GPS satellite 60 during shooting of moving image data, and calculates the regional position information from the received GPS signal. Further, the time when the GPS signal is received from the GPS satellite, the regional position information, and the moving image data are stored in the storage unit 24 in association with each other. Here, the time when the GPS signal is received from the GPS satellite indicates the elapsed time in the moving image data being shot. For example, when a GPS signal is received from the GPS satellite 60 two minutes after the shooting unit 21 starts shooting moving image data, reproduction position information of 2:00 is given.

Moreover, it is preferable that the timing at which the regional position information adding unit 22 adds the reproduction position information is when the distance of a predetermined distance or more is moved in the same moving image data. Specifically, the local position information and the reproduction position information are first stored, and then the signal from the GPS satellite 60 is continuously received during the shooting of the moving image data, and from the point where the previous reproduction position information is given. Measure the difference in distance. Then, when moving a predetermined distance from the point where the previous reproduction position information is given, the reproduction position information is stored together with the area position information at that time.
An input means (not shown) may be provided in the camera 20 to arbitrarily set how much the area position information and the reproduction position are to be stored when moved.

  The external connection unit 23 is a connection unit for connecting the camera 20 and an external device, and a known connection unit can be used. For example, USB, infrared communication, a serial port, a flash memory card, other storage media such as an optical disk, and a means for connecting to a network such as a LAN.

  The terminal 30 includes an external connection unit 31 that is connected to the camera 20, a control unit 32 that performs various processes, an input unit 33 that serves as input means for input by a user of the terminal, and a communication unit 34 that is connected to the network 40. And a storage unit 35 for storing various data including the operation program of the terminal 30 and moving image data, and a display unit 36 for reproducing and displaying the moving image data.

  The external connection unit 31 is a connection unit that communicates with the camera 20. As long as it can be connected to at least the camera 20, a connection unit adapted to the external connection portion 23 of the camera 20 can be provided.

  The control unit 32 edits the input control unit 321 that receives input from the input unit 33, the communication control unit 322 that controls the communication unit 34, and the video data read from the camera 20, or the server 50 a via the network 40. , 50b, and a moving image editing unit 323 for editing so as to be registered.

  The moving image editing unit 323 constitutes means for performing editing necessary for registering moving image data on the servers 50a, 50b,. For example, adjustment of resolution, compression rate, etc., change of file type, etc., and known means can be used. Further, the moving image editing unit 323 may edit the place name information corresponding to the regional position information of the moving image data. For example, the local position information may be received from the input unit 33, and the coordinate data and the moving image included in the map information based on the map information stored in the storage unit 35 or acquired via the network 40. You may make it match | combine with the local location information of data, and you may make it give the matching place name information.

  With reference to FIG. 6, the process of indexing in the moving image search server 10 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the index assignment process.

  In step S11, the moving image collection unit 11 circulates the network 40 and collects moving image data. Then, the collected moving image data is stored in the moving image data DB 161 together with the meta information given to the moving image data (step S12).

  The moving image data DB 161 stores moving image data collected in a database state like the moving image data table shown in FIG. Specifically, among the information stored in the meta information of the moving image data, the file name, the playback position indicating the playable position, and the regional position information thereof are stored in association with each other.

  In step S <b> 13, the index assigning unit 12 assigns index information for the moving image data stored in the moving image data DB 161. More specifically, as in the index information table shown in FIG. 4, the moving image data name having the region position information and the reproduction position information having the region position information are associated with each other using the region position information as a key, and the search index DB 162 is used. (Step S14).

  The moving image data search process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the search process.

  In step S <b> 21, the search term input via the input unit 33 is received by the input receiving unit 321 in the terminal 30. Then, the input search word is transmitted as a search request from the communication unit 34 to the moving image search server 10 via the network 40 (step S22). In this case, the search term includes place name information indicating a place name on a so-called map.

  In step S <b> 23, the search reception unit 13 of the video search server 10 receives the search request transmitted from the terminal 30 and sends it to the search unit 14. Then, the search unit 14 performs a search process based on the search request (step S24).

  Based on the place name information included in the search request, it is converted into area position information that can be searched in the index information table, and the search is performed with reference to the index information table in the search index DB 162. In order to convert the place name information into the area position information, for example, map information is stored in a predetermined area of the storage unit 16, and a table in which the place name information is associated with the corresponding area position information is stored. preferable. The table can be converted from the place name information by searching the area position information stored corresponding to the place name information.

  When the search unit 14 refers to the search information table in the search index DB 162 to obtain the file name and reproduction position information corresponding to the regional position information, the search unit 14 next refers to the moving image data DB 161 and corresponds. The moving image data is read out and sent to the search result transmission unit 15 together with the search result in the search information table.

  In step S25, when receiving the search result and the moving image data from the search unit 14, the search result transmission unit 15 transmits these data to the terminal 30 that has transmitted the search request.

  In step S <b> 26, when the communication unit 34 of the terminal 30 receives the search result and the moving image data from the moving image search server 10, the control unit 32 causes the display unit 36 to display these pieces of information. As a display result, as shown in FIG. 8, reproduction position information indicating a portion including area position information corresponding to a search word is displayed together with a title 74 indicating a plurality of moving image data and a file name thereof. Is displayed.

  Here, a display example of search results displayed on the display unit 36 of the terminal 30 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a display example of search results displayed on the display unit 36 of the terminal 30.

  A search word is input to the search word input unit 71, and a search result is displayed in a result display area 72 below the search word. In the present embodiment, an image 73 showing moving image data, its title 74, and a playback position 75 are displayed. In the display example shown in FIG. 8, “Tokyo” is input as a search term. Therefore, the moving image data including the regional position information of “Tokyo” is displayed in the result display area 72 as a search result.

  The playback position 75 is displayed in time, and indicates that the place name image corresponding to the search word is played back from the time indicated by the playback position 75.

  Returning to FIG. 7, when arbitrary moving image data is received from the input unit 33 from the search result displayed on the display unit 36 by the user of the terminal 30 (step S <b> 27), the control unit 32 displays the selected moving image data. It is reproduced and displayed on the display unit 36 in accordance with the reproduction position information (step S28). At this time, the control unit 32 performs playback display from the time indicated by the playback position information.

<Hardware configuration>
A hardware configuration of the moving image search server 10 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the moving image search server 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The video search server 10 includes a CPU_A (Central Processing Unit) 1010 (in the multiprocessor configuration, a plurality of CPUs such as CPU_B (1012) may be added), a bus line 1005, a communication I / F 1040, and the like. A main memory 1050, a basic input output system (BIOS) 1060, a USB port 1090, an I / O controller 1070, an input unit such as a keyboard and mouse 1100, and a display device 1022 are provided.

  Storage means such as a tape drive 1072, a hard disk 1074, an optical disk drive 1076, and a semiconductor memory 1078 can be connected to the I / O controller 1070.

  The BIOS 1060 stores a boot program executed by the CPU_A (1010) when each server is started, a program depending on the hardware of each server, and the like.

  The hard disk 1074 constituting the storage unit stores various programs for the moving image search server 10 to function as a server and programs for executing the functions of the present invention. Further, various databases (moving image data DB 161, search) are stored as necessary. Index DB 162 and the like) can be configured.

  As the optical disc drive 1076, for example, a DVD-ROM drive, a CD-ROM drive, a DVD-RAM drive, or a CD-RAM drive can be used. In this case, the optical disk 1077 corresponding to each drive is used. A program or data can be read from the optical disk 1077 by the optical disk drive 1076 and provided to the main memory 1050 or the hard disk 1074 via the I / O controller 1070.

  The program provided to the moving image search server 10 is provided by being stored in a recording medium such as the hard disk 1074, the optical disk 1077, or a memory card. This program may be read from the recording medium via the I / O controller 1070 or downloaded via the communication I / F 1040 to be installed and executed in the video search server 10.

  The aforementioned program may be stored in an internal or external storage medium. Here, as a storage medium constituting the storage unit 107, in addition to the hard disk 1074, the optical disk 1077, or the memory card, a magneto-optical recording medium such as an MD or a tape medium can be used. Further, a storage device such as a hard disk 1074 or an optical disk library provided in a server system connected to a dedicated communication line or the Internet may be used as a recording medium, and the program may be provided to the moving image search server 10 via the communication line.

  Here, the display device 1022 displays a screen for accepting data input to the user, or displays a screen of a calculation processing result by the moving image search server 10, and includes a cathode ray tube display device (Cathode Ray Tube Display), A display device such as a liquid crystal display device is included.

  Here, the input means accepts input by the user, and may be configured by a keyboard, a mouse 1100, and the like.

  The communication I / F 1040 is a network adapter for enabling each server to be connected to a terminal via the network 40. The communication I / F 1040 may include a modem, a cable modem, and an Ethernet (registered trademark) adapter.

  In the above example, the video search server 10 has been mainly described. However, each function can also be realized by installing a program in a computer and operating the computer as a server device. Therefore, the function realized by the moving image search server 10 of the present embodiment can be realized by executing the above-described method by the computer, or by introducing the above-described program into the computer and executing it. .

  The terminal 30 may have the same configuration as that of the moving image search server 10 described above. Further, in the present embodiment, an example of the terminal 30 realized by a so-called PC (Personal Computer) has been described. Furthermore, as long as the principle of the present invention is applicable, a mobile phone, a PDA (Personal Data Assistant), a game machine It may be realized by various terminals such as.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not restricted to embodiment mentioned above. The effects described in the embodiments of the present invention are only the most preferable effects resulting from the present invention, and the effects of the present invention are limited to those described in the embodiments of the present invention. is not.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Movie search server 11 Movie collection part 12 Index provision part 13 Search reception part 14 Search part 15 Search result transmission part 16 Memory | storage part 20 Camera 30 Terminal 40 Network 50a, 50b Server 60 GPS satellite 161 Movie data DB
162 Index DB for search

Claims (3)

A video search server that accepts a search for video data via the Internet and sends search results,
Movie collection means for collecting movie data having meta information including the location name information related to the content of the movie data and reproduction position information associated with the location name information, which is published on the Internet;
Moving image data storage means for storing the collected moving image data together with the meta information;
The place name information includes regional position information corresponding to the place name information,
About the moving image data collected by the moving image collecting means, index assigning means for assigning index information based on the regional position information;
Search accepting means for accepting a search request from a terminal;
Search means for searching for moving image data stored in the moving image data storage means based on the search request and the index information;
A video search server comprising search result transmission means for transmitting a search result searched by the search means to a terminal that has received the search request.   The moving image search server according to claim 1, wherein the search means searches for the reproduction position information associated with the area position information corresponding to the place name information included in the search request. A video search method that accepts a search for video data via the Internet and sends the search results,
Video data storage means for storing the video data;
Collecting moving image data meta information including the location name information related to the content of the moving image data and the reproduction position information associated with the location name information published to the Internet;
The place name information includes regional position information corresponding to the place name information,
Storing the collected video data together with the meta information in the video data storage means;
Providing index information on the collected and stored moving image data based on the location information;
Receiving a search request from the terminal;
Searching the moving image data stored in the moving image data storage means based on the search request and the index information;
Transmitting the retrieved search results to a terminal that has received the search request.

Images